Recycling and Substitution of Raw Materials – Sustainable and secure trade of raw materials João A. Labrincha (jal@ua.pt

1. Recycling and Substitution of Raw Materials – Sustainable and secure trade of raw materials João A. Labrincha (jal@ua.pt) Member of theOperational Group #2 of theEuropeanInnovationPartnershiponRawMaterials

2. Recycling • Problems to face in Europe • The general shortage of metal primary resources. • The specific scarcity of strategic/rare (critical) metals (such as PGM’s, In, Ge, rare-earths), absolutely necessary to existing and emerging technologies (e.g. electronics, energy). • Restrictions on landfilling and the need to recover valuable species from waste. • Secondary sources of materials • Historical dumps and tailings (“landfill mining”) • Mining, metallurgical and other industrial residues; metal-rich sludge/fines from distinct processes: red mud, Al-anodising, surface coating/finishing (Ni/Cr plating), foundry sand, … • End-of-life (metal-containing) products (e.g. vehicles, electronics, batteries): “urban mining” • Inorganic non-metallic wastes: • MSWI and biomass combustion ashes (thermoelectric power stations and co-generation on paper-pulp industries); • CDW, etc …

3. Recycling • European priorities • Recycling of raw materials from products, buildings and infrastructure • new innovative separation, sorting, recycling and/or reuse processes are needed to treat complex products and buildings: • (1) End-of-life products: (a) pre-processing technologies for complex products …; (b) metallurgical recovery with focus on technology/critical metals. • (2) Packaging: innovative technological solutions for recovery of materials from complex streams. • (3) Construction and demolition (C&D) waste: (i) the feasibility of increasing the recovery rate of components (metals, aggregates, concrete, bricks, plasterboard, glass and wood), and (ii) the economic and environmental advantages associated with C&D waste treatment, attempting to reach the 2020 recycling target of 70% for C&D waste, as set in the Waste Framework Directive.

4. Recycling • Portuguese situation • Portugal has all the secondary resources previously mentioned, including mining wastes (both “historical” and “running” sites), and end-of-life products. • R&D Centres have scientific competences in designing recycling solutions, with many examples of research projects and publications in this field. Know-how and facilities in residues characterization, physical processing and hydrometallurgy: • University of Aveiro • IST – TULisbon • LNEG • Univ. Minho – CVR • Long track record of technology transfer between academia and industry. • BUT still distant from reaching the objective WASTE to RESOURCE/ENERGY

5. Recycling • Examples of Academia – Industry cooperation • Incorporation in existing products/targeted industries: • Clinker and cement (Secil). • Mortar and concrete (APFAC, Weber-Saint Gobain, RCD). • Ceramics (ADM/ Felmica). • Lightweight aggregates (Leca-Saint Gobain); Glass (Vidrociclo). • Iron scrap in steel industry / blast furnace (CVR – Centre for Waste Recovery). • Development of novel products: • Refractory/Electrical Insulating ceramics • Glass-ceramics • Geopolymers • Inorganic pigments

6. GS IS Recycling • Wastes-based inorganic pigments • Cascade solutions to fully recover metallic species from complex wastes (anodising/plating/finishing sludges): • Separation and recovery of valuable metal species (e.g. Ni, Zn), by hydrometallurgical processes (leaching + precipitation + solvent extraction); • Inertization of residual fluxes (still containing metals) in the formulation of ceramic pigments.

7. Recycling • Wastes-based inorganic pigments • Black pigment based on chrome-iron-nickel spinel (Fe,Ni)(Fe,Cr)2O4 • Ni (turquoise) or Co-bearingblue pigments based on calciumhexaluminate (CaAl12O19) J.A. Labrincha, M.J.P. Ribeiro, M.G. Costa, “Process for the production of mixed-metal-oxide inorganic pigments from industrial wastes”, PCT/IB2007/055320

8. Recycling • Challenges • Insufficient information about composition/metals distribution (mainly rare metals) in mining and other industrial wastes. • Complex combination of different materials and metals: • Development of new and more efficient pre-processing technologies (e.g. advanced sorting) for complex EOL-products; • Development of new metallurgical processes, highly efficient (materials/energy) and highly selective; • Development of eco-design of products/processes to improve dismantling and recycling. • Absence of relevant actors (e.g. pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical industries), and need to close the loop (producers + waste managers + users) + academia/R&D. • Need to create multidisciplinary teams (Materials Sci., Environment, Management, Design, …) to fully cover all relevant aspects of the entire value chain (e.g. LCA, economics).

9. Substitution • Objective • Promote a coherent set of specific actions that cover the most important application areas where CRM are a key component and their substitution will make a substantial difference to the competitiveness of European industry (notably in sectors related to the energy, chemical, and automotive industries). • Critical/target applications • Materials for green energy technologies (heavy REE in magnets; CRM in batteries/catalysts/photovoltaic materials); • Materials for electronic devices (indium in transparent conductive layers; CRM in light sources); • Materials under extreme conditions (CRM in heat resistant super alloys/hard materials: Re, W in superalloys); • Applications using materials in large quantities (CRM in super alloys and steels alloyed with scarce elements, TiO2, natural rubber in tires).

10. Substitution • Our experience/studies • Study of phosphors for green photonics involving rare earth-based inorganic and organic-inorganic hybrids and hybrids lacking metal activator centers. • Development of magnetic materials and their applications (e.g. multiferroic systems). • Synthesis and characterization of wide gap semiconductors (e.g. ZnO). • Substitution of W-Co in hard/cutting tools (Si3N4; SiC …)

11. Substitution • Challenges • Substitution of rare earth elements in permanent magnets and their applications: • permanent magnets based on ferrite and Mn/Al alloys and neodymium-iron-boron; • Substitution of rare earth elements in energy efficient lighting systems: • use of transition metal ions such as Mn2+, or reducing the phosphor rare earth element content; • Substitution of indium in transparent conductive layers: • search for alternatives to ITO (e.g. ZnO); • Recovery of rare earth phosphors from fluorescent light bulbs and old electronic devices.

12. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Problems to face in Europe • The inevitable depletion of fossil resources (oil, coal, etc.) and the instability of prices; • The need to find alternative sources of energy, fuels, chemicals and materials from renewable origin; and to develop a new industrial paradigm: the Biobased industry • Biomass as the alternative to fossil resources • Dedicated crops, agroforestry and related industrial by-products; • Paper wastes; • Cattle production wastes; • Municipal wastes; • Etc…

13. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Portuguese situation • Forestry (Pulp&Paper and cork) are among the most important industrial sectors of the Portuguese economy; • Agricultural activities grown considerably in recent years (e.g. olive oil). • There is plenty of land opportunities to produce dedicated crops in Portugal; • A large supply of agroforestry by-products/wastes and whole crops will be available. • R&D Centres have well recognized competences in the biomass characterization, fractionation and conversion into value added fuels, chemicals and materials.

14. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Challenges • Sustainable management of agroforestry recourses to ensure supply of bio-based industries without competing with the food/feed supply chain; • Management of cropping and transportation logistics; • Assessment of social impacts of a new Forestry and Agriculture activities; • Detailed knowledge of biomass sources composition; • Development of new and eco-friendly processes for biomass fractionation (using supercritical CO2, ionic liquids, etc.); • Development of new eco-friendly processes for conversion of biomass fractions into value added chemicals, materials, and fuels; and then to convert platform chemicals into everyday-life goods; • Life-cycle assessment and economical evaluation of the entire value chain.

15. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Development of new and eco-friendly processes for biomass fractionation • Supercritical CO2 extraction of bioactive triterpenic acids from eucalyptus bark. Optimized and demonstrated at industrial scale. (FP7: AFORE)

16. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Development of new eco-friendly processes for conversion of biomass fractions into value added platform chemicals • conversion of carbohydrate-containing biomass into furanicaldehydes (Furfural – F and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfura- HMF) using ionic liquids as solvents and catalysts.

17. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Development of new eco-friendly processes for conversion of biomass fractions into value added materials • Green heterogeneous (surface) acetylation of cellulose fibers (using ionic liquids as solvents and catalysts) • Use of modified cellulose fibers as reinforcement in composite materials

18. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Development of new eco-friendly processes for conversion of biomass fractions into value added materials • Use of cork wastes in composite materials

19. Biorefineries and Biobased Materials • Development of new eco-friendly processes for conversion of platform chemicals into everyday-life goods • Development of new polyesters entirely derived from vegetable oils • New polyesters from 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (derived from HMF) • These polyesters are excellent candidates to replace oil base polyethylene terephthalate (PET)